In Sidewalk Flower, a jaded young woman sets out on an intense road trip home to deal with her past when she is asked to allow a relative stranger to tag along.

But, she’s seen too many good guys succumb to the harsh realities of her supposed privileged life in the music business and intends on keeping her distance.

When she picks up Lucky, the southern gentleman cousin of her selfish best friend, she has absolutely no idea of how to accept a perfectly good person with good intentions. Home has never looked so good, or felt so far away.

Excerpt
Sidewalk Flower

Her two
insistent hands pressed against the back of his neck like she was forcing him
to do this. It was cute. Yeah, she was dead wrong. He’d wanted to kiss her since he’d first seen
her, hopping down out of that girly silver Jeep. But he knew better. Earning something you wanted took more than a
few hours. And if he’d gathered anything
from her hot and cold responses so far, it was that Jaxon’s vague but
deliberate warning that he take good care of her hadn’t been just puffed up,
ego talk.

This girl was in trouble.

He should have stepped away for both
their sakes. He knew he didn’t deserve
this kind of kiss, not yet. But
California was glued to him on full speed and didn’t appear to have a pause,
let alone a rewind button. On second
thought, he’d let her get this out of her system and then they’d start
over.

Her hand had to be killing her, so he managed to pull it down and keep
it tucked at her side. But the other one
was petting those hairs at the back of his neck, leaving him seconds away from
coming undone. If he clenched his jaw
any tighter, those painful yet ticklish sensations shooting throughout his
upper body would without a doubt get him into trouble down below. Heck, if he squeezed her in his arms like he
wanted to, she’d feel how aroused he’d let himself get. He worked his jaw to ease away from the pain,
wishing he could let go entirely and enjoy her touch. Yep, their fresh start
was gonna have to wait until she was done proving her point. Cute girl though.

* * *

His lips were soft and salty like he’d worked up a sweat at some point
during the day. Crap, again she cursed
his damn tempting bloodline. This would
only complicate their pending trip even more.
So naturally, when he smartly pulled her one hand away, she found a
sweet spot of baby hairs with the other and went for more. Her rules—that was the only way to play with
the boys and stay safe.

Lucky’s hands eventually cupped the sides of her face, which was fine
because she had made her point.

“Are we okay?” he asked.

Well, hell if she knew. “Yes,”
she said. They could figure the truth
out later. There would be an endless
amount of open road ahead of them come Sunday to think. Tonight was desperate Friday. “We’re good.”
But she hesitated because he looked for a moment like he may have
regretted things. When he coughed and cleared his throat, she was sure of
it.

“Come on, Miss ‘We’re Good’,” he said, as he urged her the rest of the
way to the back door. “I’d like to keep
that promise I made Jaxon. You could go
a little easier on me from here on out.”

The inside of her mouth remained warm from their kiss as she swallowed a
cool breath of air. The contrasting
temperatures left her with a chill and a memory—the taste of the last kiss she’d
had. Cigarettes and beer. No hand holding. No talking.
No first, second or third date.
As badly as her sour heart warned her to throw Lucky in with that lot,
she just couldn’t do it. He’d already
taken more care of her than any other guy she’d known.

“You shouldn’t take things so personally.” At his wince, she splintered and added, “I
know you didn’t sign up for this; I’ll try to be…better.” No
promises though.

“Okay.” He hesitated, and shifted
on the steps. “Ready to go inside?”

“No, you should go in though. I
need to be alone.” A tingle traveled
around her wounded hand and she made the mistake of squeezing it into a
fist.

Lucky dipped his head then and ran his hand up along the back of his
neck, rubbing it in his obvious confusion.
“Trista. I’m kind of at a loss here.
You’re obviously in pain. Just
come inside and let me help you.”

She tried to warn him, hoping he’d listen. “Lucky, you’re a nice guy. Okay, I get it. You want to help, but I didn’t ask for that
and you have no idea what you’d be signing up for anyway. Assholes can barely handle my world; a good
guy like you doesn’t stand a chance.
Jaxon had no right doing this.”

“Hmmm.” He scratched at his
sideburn. “You don’t know what I can and
can’t handle.” He looked down but she
had caught his every word.

About the Author:

Carlene Love Flores is a big fan of the stars (especially Orion), honest music (especially Depeche Mode), and her traveling family (no favorites there-she loves them all). These things have always inspired her to think up edgy, intimate love stories and continue to do so. If she could touch someone’s heart with her writing the way others have done for her, she’d say truly there never lived a luckier girl.